Restaurant Review: It’s Greek to Me, Holmdel, NJ

This past Saturday night because I was over Thanksgiving leftovers I just wanted to go out for dinner. We have a list of restaurants we want to try in the area and because it was the closest, we decided on It’s Greek to Me in Holmdel, NJ. I believe this is a chain restaurant with two other locations in Northern NJ. I had eaten here once before with a work luncheon and thought it was pretty good so I wanted to give it another shot. The husband had never eaten here and he’s game for any food.

The decor is Mediterranean with a lot of blue. Very simple, clean, nice. We were immediately seated as there were quite a few open tables. It was about 8:30 p.m. by this time so the lack of diners didn’t bother me as much as it usually does. We had immediate service from the wait staff who remained consistently attentive throughout the night.

For starters we ordered the Grilled Feta with Fresh Tomato and Sweet Pepper for $8.50. This was served with warm pita bread. I love feta so there was nothing here to not like. I will point out that the tomatoes were the kind I loathe in restaurants. Very pale, pink, and flavorless. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is no excuse, especially in NJ for a restaurant to not be serving awesome tomatoes! I can still get beautiful, juicy red tomatoes at my grocery store and Costco.

For our main meal, the husband order the Lamb Gyro Combo served with tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki sauce for $10.50. It was a massive portion and he enjoyed it very much.

I ordered the Shrimp Souvlaki platter served with Greek fries, grilled sweet pepper, grilled tomatoes, tzatziki, onion & parsley for $17.95. Ever the picky one, I did not enjoy mine. The “Greek” fries were regular fries with some “special” seasonings. Whatever. Some of them weren’t even cooked all the way through. The shrimp souvlaki was about a dozen or so small to medium size shrimp that appeared to have been on a kebab with onions. The shrimp, while it did have some flavor, was mostly overcooked and had the delicious, rubbery taste I just so adore. I thought it was overpriced for what they offered.

Before I said something, worrying my husband would want to come back here again since he loved his gyro so much, he said as we got in the car, “Well, that’s one place I don’t have to go back to.” Thank goodness. Overall, I think it’s overrated as I’ve heard many people rave about this place. The food is decent at best. The service and atmosphere were good but again, FOOD brings me back.

I guess I should have just stuck with the Thanksgiving leftovers that night….

I don’t eat at Greek restaurants often so I’m not sure if the prices were typical. I will say I still think the shrimp was pricey for two reasons, one the portion size was so incredibly small (sorry I wish I had pics) and two, the quality. But at least they made up for it on the gyro. 🙂